JOURNAL ARTICLES MARCH 2026

Abstract
Despite changes in legislation and public attitudes towards large predators, human-caused mortality continues to impact survival and conservation of carnivore species. Understanding the drivers and timing of mortality is critical for informing evidence-based management and policy decisions aimed at improving carnivore conservation outcomes, particularly in areas with varying management regimes. Using GPS collar and mortality data representing 1002 wolf-years from 608 wolves in Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan, USA, during 2010–2023, we assessed cause-specific mortality and survival in relation to federal protection status, whether wolf harvest was allowed, sex-age class, and wolf residency. Human-caused mortalities represented 65% of recorded mortalities. Illegal kill represented 38% of mortalities and peaked in mid-November, concurrent with White-tailed deer firearm seasons in the region. Whether legal harvest was allowed did not influence mortality risk for causes other than legal kill. Mean annual regional wolf survival (0.74) was similar across years and sex-age categories and did not vary with protection status, but survival probability for resident wolves was greater than for non-residents. Legal kill was the greatest source of mortality for gray wolves in the western Great Lakes region in years when harvest was allowed, emphasizing the importance of continued population monitoring and adaptive management. Illegal kill was the greatest source of recorded mortality overall and was not reduced by federal protection, highlighting the need to enhance enforcement and address socio-political factors influencing public tolerance of wolves.

Abstract

Have European gray wolves recovered? Despite an increase to ∼21,000 wolves (Canis lupus), our genomic analyses reveal significant risks to their long-term viability. We analyzed over 200 whole-genomes spanning five major European populations. Rather than a single recovering population, European wolves form a mosaic of isolated, independently evolving lineages, mostly diverging in the late Pleistocene. All lineages have contemporary effective population sizes below the threshold for long-term viability (Ne ≥ 500) and show extensive inbreeding. Runs of homozygosity reveal population-specific inbreeding histories spanning recent to deep timeframes. Most lineages exhibit higher realized than masked genetic load, indicating emerging inbreeding depression. These findings challenge claims that downlisting European wolves is biologically warranted: none of these populations currently meets thresholds associated with favorable conservation status.

Abstract
Livestock depredations by gray wolves are a source of human-wildlife conflict across their recolonizing range in the midwestern United States of America (USA) which may hinder recovery efforts. Spatial prediction of livestock depredation risk is an important component of preventing and mitigating livestock depredation. We provide the first livestock depredation risk map for gray wolves (Canis lupus) throughout their current range in the midwestern USA. Using an ensemble model with two-step validation approach, we analyzed 1239 reported wolf depredations of livestock across Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan USA during 2010–2022 to identify factors influencing risk. Depredation probability was primarily influenced by the proportion of pasture cover (variable importance = 0.975), increasing rapidly as the amount of pasture increased. In contrast, depredations were not substantially influenced by proportion of forested land, proportion of developed land, or cattle density (variable importance < 0.05 for each). Our results indicate that depredation probability increases substantially when even small amounts of livestock pasture overlap with wolf habitat. Our models predicted the locations of depredations with high accuracy as measured by cross-validated performance without wolf-specific predictor variables such as distance to nearest pack. Proactive mitigation efforts in these high-risk areas may reduce conflict with humans as wolf range expands. We suggest that models of human-wildlife conflicts not dependent on difficult-to-obtain wildlife data could be an effective tool for identifying conflict hotspots across large spatial extents, particularly for recolonizing species.

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of funds for wall construction, they repeatedly and erroneously upheld the Secretary of Homeland Security’s waiver authority. This authority permitted border wall construction to proceed in violation of Federal, state, and local laws – actions Fitzgerald claims exceeded statutory limits and violated the nondelegation doctrine. Providing a comprehensive and detailed examination of the legal challenges surrounding the Endangered Species Act and the recovery of the Mexican gray wolf, this book will be of interest to legal scholars, policymakers, and conservation advocates.

Abstract

This article intervenes in International Relations (IR) debates on infrastructural politics by centering the role infrastructures play in sustaining species domination, as a key foundation of international political relations. It argues that infrastructures materialize a distribution of killability, where some lives, particularly those of certain humans, are deemed non-killable, while others, like wolves, are subjected to exclusion, marginalization, and even death. By focusing on the Netherlands and Belgium, the article examines the rise of wolf-exclusionary infrastructures that create artificial boundaries, sustaining promises of human security shielded from the dangers posed by other species. These infrastructures obscure the violent histories of successive human wars against wolves and embed ongoing violence within technical vocabularies and international standards that make it seem neutral and inevitable. The article challenges IR to recognize infrastructure as a key tool of violence and urges a rethinking of how risks and vulnerabilities are materially distributed within multispecies relations. In so doing, it reveals the politics of infrastructure as central to the ongoing struggle of living with other species in a world shaped by entrenched human interests. Finally, the article calls for a reconsideration of security and explores a redistribution of the risks of earthly living across species lines.

Woodland caribou in Canada, including all populations in Alberta, are listed as Threatened under the Species at Risk Act (Environment and Climate Change Canada, 2020b; COSEWIC, 2014). Over the past several decades, most caribou herds in Alberta have shown persistent population declines, and many are no longer self-sustaining (Environment and Climate Change Canada, 2020a). Population assessments indicate that calf recruitment and adult survival rate in many ranges are too low to maintain stable populations (Environment and Climate Change Canada, 2020a). While climate change and other stressors contribute to these trends, the scientific consensus is clear that the primary driver of these declines is habitat disturbance from industrial development, which increases predation pressure, particularly from gray wolves (Environment and Climate Change Canada, 2020a).

In caribou ecology, it is important to distinguish between the proximate (immediate) cause of mortality and the ultimate (underlying) cause of population decline. The immediate cause of most adult and calf mortality in boreal caribou populations is predation by wolves (Hervieux et al., 2014). However, the ultimate cause of this elevated predation is widespread habitat disturbance, which alters predator-prey dynamics and increases predator efficiency across the landscape (Environment and Climate Change Canada, 2020a; Dickie et al., 2016).
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